Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000 in October, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment rose in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade.

Both the unemployment rate (7.9 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (12.3 million) were essentially unchanged in October, following declines in September. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for blacks increased to 14.3 percent in October, while the rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.2 percent), teenagers (23.7 percent), whites (7.0 percent), and Hispanics (10.0 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 4.9 percent in October (not seasonally adjusted), down from 7.3 percent a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 5.0 million. These individuals accounted for 40.6 percent of the unemployed. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force rose by 578,000 to 155.6 million in October, and the labor force participation rate edged up to 63.8 percent. Total employment rose by 410,000 over the month. The employment-population ratio was essentially unchanged at 58.8 percent, following an increase of 0.4 percentage point in September. (See table A-1.)

10.6%: Unemployment rate if labor force participation rate was the same as when Obama took office

However, if Mittens wins, do you think that he will insist upon lowering income tax rates? Do you think that he will insist upon eliminating the estate tax? Do you think he will push for repeal of Dodd / Frank?

re: “…rate for Blacks increases to 14.3%” That seems pretty high to me. Either way, they’ll be the first to petition Congress for a Federal holiday to commemorate the Presidency of Barack H. Obama and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. *sigh*

Media spin will be interesting to watch. With only days to go, how hard will they work to spin it when there is little time for the truth or valid refutations to surface?

I read also that 1) immigrants (legal and illegal) have made up almost two thirds of hiring under Obama, and, 2) the actual jobs numbers for September were adjusted downwards this week (surprise!) to the vicinity of 85k from the original number around 170k.

Surely most people feel that and see the reality enough to know any positive spin is hogwash. Yes?

We can’t trust the media, we can’t trust polling, and we can’t trust government stats.

Nor can we trust the political process. It’s worse than spin now: it’s outright bullshit. When one has to wade through the BS that is being spewed out, it hardly seems worth the effort to become informed. A citizen might do no worse by tuning out politics altogether and voting according to being better/worse off than four years ago. Which is an ominous sign.

While they tax & regulate us to protect from gnats, they shove camels down our throats.

He never stood up to enemies, refuted lies, or confronted dirty little conspiracies. He gave his enemies free reign while allowing them simultaneously to have their way in destroying Bush’s friends and allies.

An unscrupulous, amoral enemy, once emboldened (particularly by their opponents’ unnecessary, unilateral surrender), is very difficult to overcome.

From your link: “What few people realize is that the headline unemployment rate is calculated each month using a unique set of seasonal adjustments… The BLS knows what the actual number is. It has an actual estimate for August, which is consistent with September, but it doesn’t publish it because it says it ‘doesn’t want to confuse data users.'”

If Mitt wins, 8.0% will NOT be the acceptable! It will be totally unacceptable for Black unemployment to stand at 14.3%! 14.3% will be a racist number fueled by the policies of the rich Mormon which are specifically crafted to keep Blacks down! As we all know, economic numbers are a moving target!